Travel

The Paris Hipster Guide

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From the Marais to the 11th, Paris is packed with boutiques and restaurants that define what’s cool now. Here, many of Paris’s more envelope-pushing spots (and a lot of the health food joints, too, a concept that’s finally reached France).

Claus is one of those spots where you'll want to have your way with every dish on the menu (all-breakfast, all the time). There are granolas and toasts and eggs in every conceivable incarnation, and good god, so much pastry. Get a small window table upstairs, grab a newspaper, and take your time. There’s also granola: Claus will have you hooked one crunchy, subtly sweet, almost smoky bite in. And the tiny grocery store across the street that sells the stuff by the bag is the final piece of the master plan. There's also tea, coffee, and a dozen or so flavors of house-made jam. You'll buy all the jars you can carry with the best intentions of handing them out to friends back home. But even the best intentions…

The focus here is on California-style organic vegetarian fare: healthy, wheat-free, veggie-centric dishes that don’t skimp on taste. The interior is all wood floors, stone walls, and mix-and-match seating. Come for lunch on weekdays, as dinner can get a little hectic. There's another location in the 10th.

The Marais is flush with casual dining spots, which means this two-story restaurant fits in perfectly. There are communal tables on the ground floor for larger parties and walk-ins, and the menu, though full of French delicacies, isn’t the least bit pretentious. The wine list is nicely reasonable, too, in both selection and price.

This speakeasy-esque spot in the Marais is run by brothers Mourad and Hakim Mazouz and takes “homey atmosphere” to the next level. For one, it’s set up like a bohemian apartment, with diners taking their pick from the kitchen, dining room, boudoir, or living room—which has a ping-pong table in the center. Upstairs, a smoking lounge is hidden behind a secret doorway (in an antique armoire, naturally). The extreme comfort theme also applies to the menu, with mashed potatoes and beef bourguignon taking top billing for dinner and an epic brunch spread on weekends. Though the dessert changes on the regular, ask for the floating island…it’s garnished with pop rocks.

This café looks straight out of central casting: The large main room, complete with mirrored walls and dotted with paintings, is almost always packed. Despite the area's popularity with tourists, La Palette still feels undiscovered, as it’s predominantly peopled by locals.

While we’ve arguably had better Moroccan, Le 404 isn’t really about the food (though the lentils and chicken tagines are a welcome culinary break from beef bourguignon): It’s always a party, best capped off with a cocktail at Andy Wahloo next door (from the same owners). Keep in mind that Le 404 is also open on Sundays, a Parisian rarity.

Maisie Café brings a taste of LA juice culture to Paris. The brainchild of former luxury exec turned wellness enthusiast Isabella Capece, Maisie Café has an all-vegan, organic menu that reflects the more health-conscious direction many new Parisian spots are heading in. Breakfast is light, with acai bowls, matcha granola, juices, and shakes, while lunch is pure West Coast in the sense that most of the dishes are bowl-based: brown rice or soba noodles topped with the freshest veggies, nuts, and seeds. The fashion pack who hit Paris for the shows are big fans of Maisie's cures—hot and cold soups, elixirs, and broths for every ailment, all available for delivery. If you do choose to sit in, the interior feels like a balmy escape to Miami with tropical-print walls and pastel seating.

A new-ish sister to the absurdly popular Ober Mamma, Pink Mamma is a welcome Italian-centric addition to the very French dining scene in Pigalle. The four flights that take you up to the most Instagrammable dining room—it has a giant skylight for a roof!—are well worth the sore legs. There are plants everywhere, haphazardly placed furniture, mixed prints—in fact, the whole place might as well have been airlifted from Rome, right down to the menu. House-made pasta, grilled proteins, and really excellent pizza.

Pierre Jancou, who honed his skills at Paris’s popular Racines, opened this hip little mural-tiled restaurant on a windy street in the 10th. While there’s a reasonably-priced lunch and dinner prix-fixe, he also offers a 7-8 course carte blanche. There’s a heavy focus on provenance here, especially with the wines, many of which are natural.

&A welcome addition to Paris's growing roster of health-centric restaurants, Wild and the Moon hits that sweet spot of tasty health-conscious food that is actually filling. The menu has been formulated by vegan nutritionists, with over half of it dominated by juices and tonics—adaptogenic coffee chaga shakes, blue algae smoothies, charcoal lattes, and golden mylks. The food centers around hearty, flavorful grain and lentil bowls packed with vegetables and topped with inventive miso-based vinaigrettes. For the traveler seeking a little balance with their crème brûlée, stocking your hotel room with a mini-bar-friendly assortment of the café's raw bars, chia puddings, cold-pressed juices, and zucchini muffins is never a bad call.